This extensions is a tool that helps with AL development.
Table of Contents
Features
- XLIFF Tools
- NAB: Refresh XLF files from g.xlf
- NAB: Match translations from external XLF file
- NAB: Find next untranslated text (Ctrl+Alt+U)
- NAB: Find untranslated texts
- NAB: Find multiple targets in XLF files
- NAB: Find translated texts of current line
- NAB: Find code source of current line ("F12" in xlf files)
- NAB: Sort XLF files as g.xlf
- NAB: Sort XLF files as g.xlf
- NAB: Update g.xlf
- NAB: Update all XLF files
- NAB: Copy <source> to <target>
- NAB: Download Base App Translation files
- NAB: Match Translations From Base Application
- Other Features
- Snippets
Requirements
Extension Settings
Known Issues
Release Notes
Contributing
Features
The workflow for working with these XLIFF tools are
- Write your code
- Build your app, so that the g.xlf file gets updated
- Execute "NAB: Refresh XLF files from g.xlf" from the Command Palette
- Execute "NAB: Find next untranslated text" from the Command Palette and handle the untranslated/modified translation until you've handled them all
NAB: Refresh XLF files from g.xlf
Iterates the g.xlf file and updates all language xlf files. The default behavior is to insert the tags mentioned below. If the setting NAB.UseExternalTranslationTool == true the state attribute of <target> is modified instead.
- The xlf files gets the same ordering as g.xlf
- Translations marked as translate=no gets removed
- Modified translations gets prefixed with [NAB: REVIEW] or
<target state="needs-adaptation">.
- New translations with the same source language as g.xlf gets copied to target, but prefixed with [NAB: REVIEW] or
<target state="needs-review-translation">.
- New translations with other source language than g.xlf is replaced with [NAB: NOT TRANSLATED] or
<target state="new">
- If the setting
NAB.MatchTranslation is enabled and a not translated text is found, it tries to match the source texts to find if this text has been translated before. Read more in the NAB.MatchTranslation setting.
- If a translation tag ([NAB: NOT TRANSLATED], [NAB: REVIEW] and [NAB: SUGGESTION]) is added, there is also an added note that explains why this is done. The note can be identified by the "from" attribute that is set to "NAB AL Tools". If this note exists when the
NAB: Refresh XLF files from g.xlf is executed again and the translation tag is removed, this note will be removed.
- If the setting
NAB.UseExternalTranslationTool is enabled this note is added as well. The note is then removed when the target state attribute is set to "translated".
Please create an issue if you have an opinion of how the target states should be used or if you wish to see more functionality that improves the workflow when working with translation tools.
NAB: Match translations from external XLF file
Works similar as NAB: Refresh XLF files from g.xlf, but you will first need to select another xlf file to use for matching (read more about matching in the NAB.MatchTranslation setting documentation).
- Only xlf files with the same target language as the selected xlf file will be modified.
NAB: Find next untranslated text (Ctrl+Alt+U)
Finds the next occurrence of the tags [NAB: NOT TRANSLATED] or [NAB: REVIEW] and selects the tag.
- If the tag [NAB: NOT TRANSLATED] is selected, replace it with the translated text
- If the tag [NAB: REVIEW] is selected, review the translation and update if needed, then you remove the tag
- If the tag [NAB: SUGGESTION] is selected, review the suggested translation (added by source matching) and update if needed, then you remove the tag
If the setting NAB.UseExternalTranslationTool is set to true it searches for any target with a state that is considered not completed. Which is any state except final, signed-off, translated. The [NAB:*]-tags are not used when this setting is activated.
NAB: Find untranslated texts
Uses the Find in Files feature to search for translation units in need of review or translation.
Please read Known Issues below.
NAB: Find multiple targets in XLF files
Use this command to find all places where you've got multiple targets, caused by the matching finding multiple sources with different translations
Please read Known Issues below.
NAB: Find translated texts of current line
Place the cursor on a AL code line that should be translated and execute this command to find any translations of the selected line. If there are only one translation file, the translation file will be opened with the translation selected. If there are more than one translation file (or if the translation could not be found in the only translation file), the Find in Files feature will be used to find all occurrences of the translations.
Please read Known Issues below.
NAB: Find code source of current line ("F12" in xlf files)
Place the cursor somewhere in a trans-unit node in the xlf file and execute this command to navigate to the source code for that translation.
NAB: Sort XLF files as g.xlf
Updates all language xlf files with the same sorting as the g.xlf file
NAB: Copy <source> to <target>
Copies the content of the <source> element to the <target> element. Use this when positioned on a target line in a xlf file.
NAB: Update g.xlf
Updates the g.xlf file from AL files. Practical if you need to update translations when you don't have all symbols to compile the solution.
All new trans-units will be placed in the bottom of the g.xlf file. When a build is done later, the g.xlf will be sorted in the correct way. Use the functions NAB: Sort XLF files as g.xlf or NAB: Refresh XLF files from g.xlf to sort the translated files in the same way as g.xlf.
The only case where this function will remove an existing trans-unit from the g.xlf file is if a text has been changed to Locked = true.
Note: This function relies completely on text matching (hence no need for symbols). This has a couple of consequences:
- Make sure that the code is correctly formatted. Use the auto format functionality from the AL Language extension for this.
- There are probably cases that we just don't support yet. If you find one, please report an issue at GitHub with as much info as possible for us to reproduce the issue (the AL file, the g.xlf file etc.)
NAB: Update all XLF files
Runs the feature NAB: Update g.xlf followed by NAB: Refresh XLF files from g.xlf.
NAB: Download Base App Translation files
Downloads Base App translations matching the target-language of the XLF files in the current workspace. The files downloaded consists of json files with a size of 5-10mb. The files are downloaded to the VS Code extension folder and should not be visible or otherwise affect your workspace. This feature is a preview and will likely be removed in the future to be handled in the background where needed.
NAB: Match Translations From Base Application
Downloads and uses Base App translations matching the target langugage of translation files. Provides suggestions prefixed with [NAB: SUGGESTION] on untranslated trans-units where the source string is found in Base App.
Intended workflow:
NAB: Refresh XLF files from g.xlf (*optional*)NAB: Match Translations From Base Application
Other Features
Inserts a ToolTip stub on page fields and actions. The stub will be commented out and needs to be reviewed, updated and un-commented manually.
This function only works when you're in a file that has a Page och Page extension object.
The suggestion will copy ToolTips from any page with the same SourceTable by matching the control type, name and value.
- If it's a field we're matching with fields with the same name and value
- If it's an action we're matching with actions with the same name.
No ToolTips will be added on fields on NavigatePages or API pages
Shows the next ToolTip stub in the current Page or PageExtension. Default shortcut Ctrl+Alt+P
Generates a MarkDown (.md) file with the ToolTips for all Pages and Page Extensions. All fields and action are listed per object. Empty or missing ToolTips will be included.
Fields and Actions with captions will be included in the documentation. If there are no Caption on the Page Field, the function tries to retrieve the Caption from the Source Table. This only works for tables inside the workspace.
The following naming standard in the object descriptor of Page Extensions is required to retrieve the captions from the Table Extension if there are no explicit Caption on the page field:
Pattern: pageextension [Object ID] "[Object Name]" extends "[Base Page]" // [Base Page Object Id] ([Base Table Object Id])
Example: pageextension 50000 "My Item Card" extends "Item Card" // 30 (27)
The following PageTypes are ignored:
- API
- ConfirmationDialog
- HeadlinePart
- NavigatePage
- ReportPreview
- ReportProcessingOnly
- RoleCenter
- StandardDialog
- XmlPort
Two settings can be used to ignore specific Pages or Page Extensions:
- NAB.TooltipDocsIgnorePageExtensionIds
- NAB.TooltipDocsIgnorePageIds
NAB: Uninstall dependent apps
Uninstalls dependent apps through PowerShell. Useful if you cannot install your app due to dependencies.
Only works for local installations, not Docker, not Saas Sandbox.
NAB: Sign app file
Sign the app file (matching your current app.json). You must first have the Code Signing Certificate installed in the Current User Personal Store (Cert:\CurrentUser\My if you're importing with PowerShell).
Useful if you're using a separate app as a test app
Requirements:
- Must be using a workspace
- The main app's workspace folder must be called "App"
- The test app's workspace folder must be called "TestApp"
When this command is executed, VSCode...
- Updates the launch.json in both App and TestApp to only contain the first configuration (the original launch.json is copied to ".vscode\launch_bak.json) to avoid the prompt
- Uninstalls all dependent apps (of your main app)
- Build and deploy Main App
- Build and deploy Test App
- Uses the first configuration in the launch.json of the TestApp to eventually launch the web client, without debugging. Tip: Configure this to run page 130401!
- Restores the original launch.json
The same feature as above, but with debugging
Snippets
Assign text variable with CopyStr
Since CodeCop rule AA0139 complains on possible overflow, we need to assign text variables with a CopyStr statement
Test Codeunit
Inserts a stub Test Codeunit
Test Function
Inserts a stub Test Function
Test SendNotificationHandler
Inserts a generic SendNotificationHandler function
Test MessageHandler
Inserts a generic MessageHandler function
Test ConfirmHandler
Inserts a generic ConfirmHandler function
Declare Dictionary
Define variable of type Dictionary
Declare List
Define variable of type List
Declare Enum value
Declare enum value with caption.
Requirements
This extension requires the Microsoft AL Language Extension to fully work.
Extension Settings
This extension contributes the following settings:
NAB.MatchTranslation: If enabled, the NAB: Refresh XLF files from g.xlf function tries to match sources in the translated xlf file to reuse translations. A found match of "source" is then prefixed with [NAB: SUGGESTION] for manual review. If several matches are found, all matches are added as targets and you need delete the ones you do not want. Use NAB: Find next untranslated text (Ctrl+Alt+U) or NAB: Find multiple targets in XLF files to review all matches. This feature only works if "UseExternalTranslationTool" is disabled. Activated by default.NAB.MatchBaseAppTranslation: If enabled, the NAB: Refresh XLF files from g.xlf function tries to match sources in the translated xlf file with translations from the BaseApplication. A found match of source is then prefixed with [NAB: SUGGESTION] for manual review. If several matches are found, all matches are added and you need delete the ones you do not want. Use NAB: Find next untranslated text (Ctrl+Alt+U) or NAB: Find multiple targets in XLF files to review all matches. This feature only works if UseExternalTranslationTool is disabled. Disabled by default.NAB.TranslationSuggestionPaths: Supply any relative paths that contains xlf files that should be used when matching translations. The NAB: Refresh XLF files from g.xlf function will try to match any untranslated targets with targets in the xlf files in the provided folders that has matching target language.NAB.ShowXlfHighlights: If enabled, all translation tags ([NAB: NOT TRANSLATED], [NAB: REVIEW] and [NAB: SUGGESTION]) will be highlighted (Request 75). Some common issues when writing targets manually is highlighted. Details found in issue 71. Uses the style specified in NAB.XlfHighlightsDecoration.NAB.XlfHighlightsDecoration: Specifies the style that should be used to highlight inside xlf files.NAB.UseExternalTranslationTool: Modifies the state-attribute of the translation unit when running NAB: Refresh XLF files from g.xlf instead of inserting a searchable string. Useful when working with external translation software.NAB.ReplaceSelfClosingXlfTags: Replaces self closing tags like <tag/> with a separate closing tag </tag>. Activated by default.NAB.SearchOnlyXlfFiles: If enabled, the NAB:Find Untranslated texts function only searches *.xlf files. Be aware of that the *.xlf file filter remains in "Find in Files" after this command has been run. This should be enabled in large projects (as Base Application) for performance reasons.NAB.SigningCertificateName: The name of the certificate used to sing app files. The certificate needs to be installed to the Personal store. For instructions on how to install the pfx certificate in the Personal Store, go to Microsoft Docs.NAB.SignToolPath: The full path to signtool.exe, used for signing app files. If this is not set the extension tries to find it on the default locations, if the signtool.exe is not found it tries to download and install signtool.
Known Issues
The Find in Files API was a bit buggy before VSCode v1.34... I had to create a PR for VSCode for this to work properly and in VSCode v1.34 this was finally released, yey! So be sure to update VSCode to v1.34 or later.
Release Notes
0.3.x
Beta release.
Please read our contribution guidelines and submit issues on GitHub
Contributing
You are always welcome to open an issue for enhancements and bugs. If you'd like to give it a swing yourself you can follow this little guide to get up and running: How To Contribute.
